Louisa Wall: Why the Super draft needs a blast

It is interesting that the Highlanders' chairman has taken some shots at the Super 14 player draft system, given that his team finished ninth - and last of the New Zealand franchises. He made a few good points.

What more should we expect as a rugby nation with our teams finishing first (Crusaders), second (Hurricanes), seventh (Chiefs), eighth (Blues) and ninth after the round robin competition?

Overall, we did pretty well, although I am sure what Highlanders' chairman Stuart McLaughlan is really talking about is the continuation of the domination of franchises such as the Crusaders, and his frustration at his team's placing.

The guts of his criticism is directed at the Super 14 draft system where he said too many quality players were not getting enough game time.

Players such as Anthony Tuitavake and Cameron McIntyre, last season's draft Highlanders who were retained by the Blues and Crusaders respectively this season, played only bit parts. They would have had fundamental parts to play in the Highlanders' campaign if they had been released by their provinces.

McLaughlan wants a re-calculation of the number of players a franchise can protect, which now stands at 24. He thinks that only 18 players should be protected, which would mean that franchises could prioritise but then have to relinquish some of the second-stringers unlikely to be in the starting 15.

McLaughlan's argument is that New Zealand rugby would be better off with five strong franchises instead of two or three. A re-calculation is merited, but a drop to 18 protected players seems a large shift.

So how many reserves would it be fair for each franchise to retain, ensuring their competitiveness and stimulating real competition among the New Zealand teams so they could all finish in the top half of the competition, for example?

Then, in that final round robin week, the New Zealand teams would be knocking each other out. Wouldn't that be fun?

It is great that McLaughlan and his franchise have aspirations to do better, and they acknowledge that they lacked depth in some positions. Their franchise contains just 7 per cent of the rugby-playing population; the bulk of players are available to the Blues and Crusaders.

Those two franchises have first choice about what players they keep, including some who then sit on the bench when they could be playing Super 14 for another franchise.

Other than a re-calculation of the protected player numbers, it would be hard to implement another redistribution system unless it was based on player population in the franchises' areas.

I am all for more competition and equitable distribution of players between franchises to increase the quality of the competition.

Let's hope the Rugby Union investigates the protected player policy for the benefit of all.